
d-^ 








ll? 



Copy 1 



cts About Ireland 

For Consideration of 
American Citizens by 
The Delegates of the 
Protestant Churches 
of Ireland 









Published by the 

Philadelphia Protestant Federation 

with the hope that all Protestant and 

Patriotic Bodies will circulate and give 

the widest publicity 



PRICE FIVE CENTS $4.00 PER HUNDRED 

1611 Columbia Avenue 



FOREWORD 



WE, the accredited delegates of the Protestant churches of Ire- 
land, representing one million and one-quarter people, beg to 
submit to the Protestant churches of America the following state- 
ment: 

We come here in the interests of truth and fair play : our views 
on the subject of the separation of Ireland from Great Britain having 
been grossly misrepresented by those engaged in the Sinn Fein propa- 
ganda. We have not come here to raise either political or religious 
strife, still less to entangle America in the domestic affairs of Great 
Britain. But we have come believing it is due to the churches and 
the cause which we represent to state the real truth about Ireland. 
The following paper constitutes a simple statement of facts, the 
accuracy of which can be tested by any one who desires to do so. 

Signed by : 

(Mr.") \\m. Coote, Member of Parliament for South Tyrone, Chair- 
man of Delegation. 

(Rev.) Lours Crooks, Rector Knockbreda Episcopal Church, Bel- 
fast. 

(Rev.) A. Wylie Blue, May Street Presbyterian Church, Belfast. 

(Rev.) Wm. Corkey, Townsend Street Presbyterian Church, Bel- 
fast. 

(Rev.) Frederick E. Harte, Donegal Square Methodist Church, 
Belfast. 

(Rev.) Edward Hazleton, Falls Road Methodist Church, Belfast. 

(Rev.) C. Wesley Maguire, Donegal Square Methodist Church, 
Belfast, Secretary of Delegation. 

Tionofcrrcd from 
Lib.'Cj.-iu.j's Oi'i'ica. 



1)^ 






FACTS ABOUT IRELAND FOR CONSIDERATION 
OF AMERICAN CITIZENS 



Sinn Fein means "ourselves alone." 



THE PLEA OF OVERTAXATION 

IT is stated by Sinn P'ein agitators that Ireland is overtaxed by Great 
Britain. Let us see how the matter stands. According to the 
official returns for 1918-1919 the total revenue contributed by Eng- 
land was $3,455,310,000. From this there was paid out of the British. 
Exchequer for local expenditure in England $719,237,500, leaving a 
balance available for Imperial needs such as army and navy, consular 
and other services, of $2,736,072,500. Scotland during the same 
period contributed to the British Exchequer a total revenue of 
$486,605,000. She received back for local uses $97,637,500, leaving 
a balance for Imperial purposes of $388,970,000. Ireland, with 
practically the same population of Scotland, contributed only 
$186,375,000, receiving back for local uses $110,807,500, and con- 
tributing toward Imperial expenditure a sum of only $75,567,500. It 
will be seen that while Ireland's contribution to the British Ex- 
chequer is much less than that of England or Scotland, she receives 
back a much larger proportion for her own internal uses. The ene- 
mies of Great Britain claim that Ireland's contribution for Imperial 
purposes represents a loss to her of $75,567,500. Surely, however, it 
will be coiiceded that as a part of the British Isles she ought to con- 
tribute something towards the protection of her coasts, policing of the 
seas, and trade routes, payment of the huge war debt, and upkeep of 
National affairs generally. But apart from the question of obligation, 
is this sum a loss to her? Last year she received back $60,000,000 in 
war pensions, separation allowances, and gratuities to ex-soldiers, 
sailors and their dependents living in Ireland. Further, she received 
$21,500,000 as a bread subsidy, whereby the cost of every loaf of 
broad consumed in Ireland was reduced in price by six cents. 
Ireland also received last year more than $5,000,000 as out-of-work 
donation. These figures will illustrate some of the ways — and there 



are many others — in which she indirectly receives back much more 
than she contributed for Imperial purposes. The plea of overtaxation 
is therefore groundless, and the day on which Ireland should cut 
adrift from Great Britain would be to her a day of disaster and 
financial ruin. 

THE PLEA OF OPPRESSION 

Sinn Fein also declares that Ireland is denied any real voice in 
her own affairs. If Parliamentary representation be a test, how does 
she stand? Ireland, with a population let it be remembered roughly 
equal to that of Scotland, sends 105 representatives to the British 
Legislature, while Scotland sends only 75. Ireland's representatives 
are elected on a basis of one to every forty thousand of the people, 
whereas the representatives from England or Scotland are elected on 
a basis of one to every seventy-three thousand of the people. Thus 
the vote of one Irishman is almost equal to the vote of two English- 
men or Scotchmen, and the Irish vote has often been the controlling 
influence in the British Legislature. 

In addition, the 32 counties of Ireland possess their own local 
Councils, and again these counties are subdivided into districts, and 
by the same franchise, district councillors are elected. All such are 
Irishmen, chosen by the people to carry on local government in each 
county, and to strike their own rates of taxation within their own 
borders. No outside power can interfere with the local rates of the 
county. In twenty-seven of these counties all the county councils 
and most of the district councils are composed of Roman Catholics. 
To every office in their gift, these men invariably appoint only people 
of their own creed. Yet they are the first to charge the Protestant 
people of Ulster with bigotry. Thus incidentally the charge of Prot- 
estant ascendancy in Ireland is completely disproved. Ireland has 
indeed the fullest voice in her own affairs. 

It is also stated by certain self-constitute'd envoys from America, 
who paid a flying visit to Ireland, that men and women are being 
brutally treated in Irish prisons. We wish to point out that in pass- 
ing sentence on persons convicted of seditious offences of a minor 
character, the various law courts in Ireland desired only to bind over 
such persons to be of good behavior for say, twelve months, and to 
refrain from treasonable practices. On agreement, the prisoners 
were at once discharged. On the other hand, if they refused to give 
such an undertaking the alternative was a short term of imprison- 



ment. Sinn Fein agitators, in order to pose as martyrs before the 
Irish people and their friends in America, refused to enter into recog- 
nizances and therefore elected to go to prison. When in prison they 
refused to eat good, wholesome food, and proceeded to abuse the 
jailers and to damage the buildings. In Belfast, they destroyed a 
whole wing of the prison, property valued at $10,000. On the com- 
plaint of the Sinn Feiners and the American envoys, a government 
commission, presided over by a distinguished judge, was sent up to 
investigate the charges of alleged brutality to prisoners. The com- 
plainants refused to appear and make good their case and the com- 
mission found the charges to be entirely groundless. 

On the other hand, can any government abrogate its functions to 
the extent of tolerating the following state of affairs now, alas! ram- 
pant throughout the south and west of Ireland? Sinn Feiners, with 
blackened faces, approach the dwelling houses of peaceable, law- 
abiding people, Catholic and Protestant alike. On the door being 
opened a revolver is pointed at the hapless occupier. The marauders 
shout, "Hands up !" and the house is thoroughly searched for arms. 
Policemen and military officials and civilians have been brutally mur- 
dered in the discharge of their duty, and the criminals have gone 
unpunished, as no one will come forward to give evidence against 
them. For other offences against the law it is practically impossible 
to obtain a conviction, the Boards of Magistrates in the disaffected 
districts being notoriously Sinn Fein in their sympathies. Even if the 
magistrates desired, they dare not convict through terror of reprisal. 
Because of this, the government has been obliged, in certain disaf- 
fected areas, to set up special courts, over which preside two paid 
magistrates who possess no local interests, and who* can, therefore, 
discharge the duties of the law without fear. In the higher courts, 
where trial by juiy obtains, jurors have been afraid or unwilling to 
convict in the face of the clearest evidence, and, therefore, in such 
areas trial by jury has been temporarily suspended. The following 
illustrates the state of matters in the south and west : 

A few months ago sixteen young Methodist soldiers were peace- 
fully entering the Methodist church in Fermoy, County Cork, for 
purposes of worship. They carried their rifles, lest in their absence 
from barracks they should be stolen, but they carried no ammunition 
whatever. Suddenly they were attacked by a party of Sinn Feiners, 
who foully murdered one of them in the doorway and wounded 
others. The ruffians made their escape in automobiles standing ready, 
and from that day to this, not one of them has been arrested. 



THE PLEA OF DEPOPULATION 

A favorite topic with Sinn Fein is that of the depopulation of 
Ireland, which they ascribe to the conduct of Great Britain. They 
conveniently ignore the fact that at the time of the Act of Union in 
1800 the population of Ireland was 4,000,000, and that in less than 
forty years, under the Act of Union, the population increased to 
8,000,000. The Union, therefore, cannot be the cause of depopula- 
tion. The factors causing depopulation were: 

First. — The desolating famine of 1846. The potato was the 
staple food of the people, and exhaustion of the soil through lack of 
fertilizers destroyed the crop for two disastrous years. In the over- 
crowded agricultural districts of the west this caused widespread 
havoc, and no government could avert the consequences of old and 
defective land economics and violated laws of nature. Even today it 
is the work of the congested districts boards by the proper apportion- 
ment of people to the soil, and the soil to the people, and by the gen- 
eral development of agriculture, fishing and railways, to make im- 
possible any repetition of that tragedy. 

Second. — The inability of Ireland to compete with the vast vol- 
ume of agricultural imports which, with open markets, began to pour 
in from overseas, caused many to seek brighter prospects across the 
ocean. 

Third. — The wide opportunities offered by the opening up of 
new lands in America and elsewhere drew multitudes of Irish people 
from their country. Those causes belonging to defective land laws, 
and to deep-rooted primitive habits of the people, have long been re- 
moved. The population of Ireland for some years has been steadily 
rising. 

WHAT THE BRITISH PARLIAMENT HAS DONE FOR 

IRELAND 

In order to redress the grievances from which Irish tenents suf- 
fered, owing to defective systems of land tenure, the British govern- 
ment has advanced $700,000,000 at 3%% interest in order that the 
farmers might purchase their holdings. This low rate of interest 
wipes out both principal and interest in seventy years, so that after 
that time there is nothing further to pay. Three-fourths of the whole 
country is now so purchased and belongs to the peasant occupiers. 
There is no land system in Europe to compare with this. Scotland 
and England would gladly possess it. 



The British government has loaned, through the district councils 
of Ireland, for the building of laborers' cottages, the sum of $25,000,- 
000 at 2.08% interest. Between 50,000 and 80,000 of these 
cottages are now built. They are neat, four-roomed dwellings, built 
of stone, with slated roofs, and with from half an acre to an acre of 
land attached. They are let to the laborer at the nominal rent of 
from 30 to 36 cents weekly. These weekly payments will, at the end 
of fifty years, clear off the entire liability to the British government. 
The cottages will then become the property of the district councils, 
to be held in trust by them for the laborers. The money derivable 
from the rents will then go to the relief of the rates in the districts 
in which they are set up. Is there any country today which can fur- 
nish evidence of greater beneficence to the workers on its soil? 
Neither England nor Scotland possesses a boon like this. 

It is charged by Sinn Fein that Great Britain has prevented or 
retarded the development of Ireland. The preceding facts are part of 
the reply to this. In addition, the British government annually 
spends $1,250,000 for the development of what are known as the 
congested districts of the west of Ireland. This money is distributed 
by the congested district board, consisting of official representatives 
of the government, local representatives, together with two Roman 
Catholic bishops and several Roman Catholic priests. Harbors have 
been built free of cost and curing stations erected for the furtherance 
of the fishing industry. Motor launches have been sold to the fisher- 
men on the installment system, payment being made as profits are 
earned, while experts have been brought from Scotland to teach the 
Irish how to fish profitably their own seas. Light railways have been 
built to carry the produce of land and sea to the proper markets, and 
fresh fish from the west coast of Ireland can now reach the London 
markets in twenty-four hours. 

Ireland is no poverty-stricken land. Before the war the Irish 
people had on deposit in the Irish banks a sum of $380,000,000. To- 
day, after five years, this sum has increased to the amazing amount of 
$760,000,000. A large proportion of this presumably belongs to the 
Sinn Feiners of Ireland. There is, therefore, no necessity to go out- 
side of the country for money if the Sinn Feiners are really desirous 
of promoting industries. If further testimony is needed as to the 
prosperity of Ireland the words of the late Mr. John Redmond, 
spoken July 1, 1915, will suffice: "Today the people, broadly speak- 
ing, own the soil. Today the laborers live in decent habitations, to- 
day there is absolute freedom in local government and local taxation 
of the country. Today we have the widest parliamentary and mu- 



nicipal franchise. The congested districts, the scene of some of the 
most awful horrors of the old famine days, are being transformed. 
The farms have been enlarged, decent dwellings have been provided, 
and a new spirit of hope and independence is today among the people. 
In town, legislation has been passed facilitating the housing of the 
working classes — a piece of legislation far in advance of anything 
obtained for the town dwellings of England. We have a system of 
old age pensions in Ireland whereby every old man and woman over 
70 is saved from the workhouse and free to spend their last days in 
comparative comfort."- 

THE PLEA OF SELF-DETERMINATION 

It is claimed by Sinn. Fein that Ireland is a nation and, as a 
nation, possesses the right to secede from Great Britain and set up an 
independent government. We emphatically deny this claim and all 
Irish history is against it. Father McDonald, Professor of Theology, 
in Maynooth, the great training college for the priesthood in Ireland, 
deals with the claim. ' The words of Dr. McDonald may surely be 
expected to have weight with Sinn Fein. In his recent book, "Some 
Ethical Questions of Peace and War," he denies that Ireland has the 
rights of a separate nation, and he plainly declares what all history 
makes evident, that she never was a nation. "If unity of rule and 
independence are requisites of nationhood." Ireland in ancient times 
was but a congeries of warring tribes that never combined for any 
common purpose. 

In the year 1172 Henry II went to Ireland with the authority of 
a Bull issued by Pope Adrian IV, confirmed by another Bull promul- 
gated by his successor, Pope Alexander III. He invaded Ireland for 
the purpose of restoring order, and the Irish chiefs submitted to him. 
This was the first occasion on which Ireland knew anything of real 
unity, and it was created for her by Henry II. Two centuries later, 
in 1395, in the reign of Richard II, the chiefs reaffirmed their sub- 
mission, but in the reign of Henry VIII the allegiance of Ireland to 
England was emphatically confirmed by a Parliament which met in 
Dublin on June 12, 1541, and which formally recognized Henry as 
King of Ireland. 

Coming to the reign of Charles I a Catholic Confederation met 
in Kilkenny on October 24, 1642. This was an assembly representing 
Roman Catholic Ireland, and one of its decrees was to the effect that 
"All the inhabitants of Ireland and each of them shall be most faith- 
ful to our sovereign the King, and his heirs and lawful successors." 



Fifty years after, in the reign of James II, the Patriot Parliament 
•convened in DubHn in 1689, and presided over by the King in person, 
recognized him not only as King of England but as a sovereign of 
Ireland. 

Will Sinn Fein still assert that Ireland was a nation, and will it 
still be maintained that Great Britain has not and never had any 
right to rule in Ireland? 

Still it is asserted, in the face of these facts, that she possesses 
the right to what is called self-determination. There is much con- 
fusion of thought regarding this phrase, as if it implies that any 
community forming part of a larger whole, by its own will may break 
away and set up an independent government. Dr. McDonald has a 
good deal to say regarding this. He points out that self-determination 
of a portion of a country cannot be admitted unless no injury is to be 
done to the country as a whole. 

Ireland is, and has been for many centuries, a part of the United 
Kingdom, and her secession would disastrously affect the group of 
which she forms a part. When a large portion of the United States 
of America, including many of the Southern States, claimed the right 
■of secession and self-determination, Abraham Lincoln denied the 
•claim and the North carried on the great war to prevent secession. 
Lincoln held, and most people now admit rightly held, that the form- 
ing of an independent government in the South would spell disaster 
to the United States. The same applies to Britain today in relation 
to Ireland. 

Assuming, however, that Ireland possesses the right to secede, 
this right equally belongs to that part of Ireland in which Unionists 
and Protestants predominate. There are two peoples in Ireland, dif- 
fering in race, mentality and religion. If Ireland may secede from. 
Great Britain, Ulster may secede from the rest of Ireland, choosing 
how she shall be governed. Lincoln, in American politics, faced the 
same kind of problem which faces Great Britain and Ireland, and he 
enunciated this principle: "A minority of a large community who 
make certain claims for self-government cannot in logic or in sub- 
stance refuse the same claims to a much larger proportionate minor- 
ity among themselves." Lincoln applied this in 1860. The majority 
in the state of Virginia decided to join with the South. In the west- 
ern portion of the state was a large, compact minority, who refused 
to secede from the North. Lincoln recognized their right and created 
for them the state of West Virginia. On this analogy, if Sinn Fein 
Ireland posseses the right to secede from Britain, then Protestant 
Ulster may claim the right to decide her own form of government. 



But the claim of Sinn Fein to part company from the ITnited! 
Kingdom cannot for a moment be allowed. Great Britain could not 
afford to let Ireland go. The war has made vivid the fact that if the 
Sinn Fein rebellion had succeeded and the German landing had taken > 
place in Ireland, it would have been a deadly blow to Britain. An 
Ireland of Sinn Fein dreamers would be a menace not only to the 
peace of Britain but of Europe and the worl.d. With her limited 
resources and peculiar strategic position, Ireland would inevitably 
give rise to complex international situations. For Ireland's sake she 
must remain an integral portion of the United Kingdom. Left to 
herself, she would lapse into a state of internecine strife. Ninety-five 
per cent of Ireland's trade is done with Britain, and with the fiscal 
barriers which as an independent country she would immediately 
set up, her trade with Britain would perish. No other countiy needs 
the fruit of her agricultural industry, and Great Britain could draw 
supplies from European and other regions overseas. For Ireland's 
sake, as much as for Britain's interest, the union must forever abide. 

SINN FEIN AND THE WAR 

It is fair at this point to apply the test of the Great War to the 
record of Sinn Fein in Ireland. When the Allies, in their fight for 
the higher freedom of the world, were sorely pressed, Sinn Fein 
stabbed them in the back by raising rebellion in Ireland. Clear proof 
exists that this movement was carried out in concert with Germany. 
A shipload of German arms, carried by a German crew and intended 
for the rebels, was intercepted off the Irish coast. Sir Roger Case- 
ment, who came straight from Germany in a submarine, with assur- 
ances of help, was captured on the coast of Kerry. The rebellion, 
though its main pui-pose frustrated, involved frightful destruction to 
life and property. It also realized Germany's wish to compel the 
retention of British troops at home. The words of Admiral Sims in 
World's Work of November, 1919, describe the subsequent activities 
of Sinn Fein : "It was no secret, the Sinn Feiners sending informa- 
tion to Germany and constantly laying plots to interfere with the 
British-American armies. 

At the outset of the war, young Catholic Ireland responded hope- 
fully to the call of dut\^ Who has not heard of the gallant Munster, 
Leinster and Connaught regiments, predominantly Catholic as they 
were? Sinn Fein, however, with its bitter anti-British propaganda, 
killed voluntary recruiting, and following upon this came the crown- 
ing reproach. A fighting race was prevented from sending its full 



quota of men to join their hard-pressed countrymen in the Irish regi- 
ments. Against this dark background stands out the example of 
Ulster. In Ulster, out of a population of 1,581,686, 75,000 men vol- 
unteered, while from the rest of Ireland, with a population of 
2,808,523, 70,000 enlisted. From the city of Belfast, with a popula- 
tion of 400,000, 46,000 joined the colors. When it is remembered 
that in Ulster are the great industries which furnished so much of the 
war material, and that large numbers of men were needed to operate 
these, the contribution of the northeast is all the more striking. Ulster 
shipyards did 10% of all the government work in the United King- 
dom. Ulster made 95% of all the airplane cloth used by the Allies. 
The Ulster Unionist members of Parliament pressed the government 
to apply conscription to Ireland, and there is no more thoroughly pro- 
gressive body of men at Westminster than the Unionists of Ulster. 
In the matter of social reform they are alongside the best minds of 
the United Kingdom. Out of 22 members 18 of them are pledged 
to further for Ireland such local option temperance measure as Scot- 
land will possess next year. 

Such facts will indicate something of the mentality and ideals of 
Protestant Ulster. It is not bigotry that desires to presei've in fact 
and form the integrity of the United Kingdom. It is not bigotry that 
fears the usurpation by ecclesiastical power of the inherent functions 
of the state. 

WHAT IS WRONG IN IRELAND 

It is freely admitted that in olden times Ireland suffered disabili- 
ties and wrongs at the hands of England. Let it be remembered, 
however, that it is only within comparatively recent years that hu- 
manitarian principles have begun truly to come to their own among 
peoples. In the olden days among all nations the strong hand was 
an argument freely employed. Whatever the wrongs Ireland en- 
dured, and often she was herself greatly to blame, for many years 
past the story of Britain's dealings with her has been one of a gener- 
ous endeavor to enfranchise, to benefit, and to bless. 

Let it also be remembered that Protestants in Ireland suffered 
from oppressive legislation, and that Presbyterians united with Ro- 
man Catholics to oppose harassing evils. But the living fact today 
is that the descendants of those Presbyterians are among the staunch- 
est defenders of the Union which Sinn Fein seeks to dismember. 

The Highlands of Scotland, in the olden times, suffered from 
harassments comparable to those which vexed Ireland, yet today 



there are no more loyal regions in all the realms of Britain than the 
Scottish Highlands. The whole land of Scotland, paying four times 
the amount of annual contribution which Ireland pays, is unalterable 
in her adhesion to the integrity of the United Kingdom. 

When we come to seek for the explanation of Ireland's troubles, 
we are brought face to face with obtrusive facts. In those regions 
in which the Roman Catholic Church is dominant, the extraordinary 
authority of the priesthood over their people is often used in ways 
frustrating or retarding legitimate trade and industry. This takes 
effect in the southern provinces when Protestants, who throughout 
Ireland are the pioneers of industry, come under their ban. The fol- 
lowing case will illustrate many others which could be given : Some 
time ago there lived in a small town on the borders of Cavan and 
Longford a young merchant engaged in a grocery and provision 
trade. Wishing to develop his business he added a bakery branch and 
soon was known as the vendor of the best bread in the district. He 
was a Presbyterian, but the district was about eight-tenths Roman 
Catholic. He was not at that time a politician or a party man of any 
kind whatever. He only desired to live quietly and in a friendly 
fashion, developing his business. He was boycotted. One day a re- 
spected Roman Catholic lady customer called and requested to know 
the amount of her indebtedness to his store. He was surprised and 
pressed for an explanation, the time for payment not being due. She 
broke into tears, said she had no fault to find with him or the goods 
sold. She had done business with him and his predecessor for over 
twenty years. Her parish priest, she said, had ordered her to pay her 
account and never again to enter the store. She went on to say that 
after a private mass celebrated at her house, she was entertaining the 
priests and other guests to breakfast. The priest, looking at a loaf of 
bread upon the table, asked who had made it. On being told that it 
had been bought at the store of this Protestant merchant, he lifted the 
loaf and threw it on the floor, saying that he would not eat in her 
house until she procured a "decent Roman Catholic loaf." He pro- 
ceeded to forbid her purchasing further in this merchant's store. In 
the same manner this merchant lost dozens of his Roman Catholic 
customers and, realizing that there was no hope of liberty to develop 
his business, he removed north. He is now, as the result of his en- 
ergy, at the head of a large manufacturing business giving employ- 
ment to many people. A story such as this, with all Its serio-comic 
revelation of the priestly mind, goes far to explain the lack of initia- 
tive and progress in southern and western Ireland. 

There are in Ireland two claimants to civil power. There is, on 



the one hand, the state and, on the other, the Hierarchy of the Roman 
Church. Acting sometimes in accordance with the will of the state 
and at other times opposing that will, the Hierarchy evidences its 
consistent claim to be the dominating factor in civil as well as relig- 
ious affairs in Ireland. Where pcnver is, there lies the seat of gov- 
ernment, and no state can tolerate the continued passing of its power 
into the keeping of any other authority. Let us illustrate shortly how 
the power of the Bishops rules in Ireland. 

Michael Davitt, himself a Roman Catholic and a leader in Irish 
political life, was roused to an amazing protest against the Bishop's 
"eternal hungering after political influence and temporal power,'' and 
their "assumption of authority to dictate to laymen what they should 
think and do in the afifairs of the nation." 

The government, in 1916, while the war was raging, and in order 
to achieve a settlement in Ireland, proposed to put the 1914 Home 
Rule Act into force, with the exclusion of six Ulster counties. This 
proposition was accepted by Mr, John Redmond and Sir Edward 
Carson, but was vetoed by the Hierarchy and the matter dropped. 

In 1917, on the suggestion of the Prime Minister, Mr. Lloyd 
George, a convention of representative Irishmen was set up in Dublin 
to draw up a scheme of settlement of the Irish Question. This was a 
gathering of all creeds. The Sinn Feiners alone refused to attend, 
but in spite of their absence, it is admitted that this was an assembly 
representative of Irish life. After many months of meeting and at a 
point when fiscal policy was under discussion, a significant thing hap- 
pened. When John Redmond was accepting certain moderate propo- 
sitions, the Roman Catholic Bishops were insisting on drastic terms. 
Redmond arose and, after referring to an amendment in his own 
name, proceeded : "But when I came to the Convention this morning 
I found that I was opposed by three of the highest dignitaries of my 
own Church, some of my political friends also disagreed with me, and 
though I believe I could carry a majority of the convention with me, 
it would split my party, and I cannot see that any useful purpose 
would be served thereby. T would, therefore, ask leive to withdraw 
my amendment, as I feel I can be of no further use in the matter. "^ 
Thus the only statesman southern and western Ireland possessed, 
against his own judgment, bowed before a will more powerful than 
his own. John Redmond walked out from the Convention and in a 
few short weeks his life drew to a close. The Convention came to an 
end. With such forces as Redmond and the Hierarchy divided 
against themselves, what hope was there of a settlement being 

In 1917 conscription had drawn to the colors even the middle- 



aged men of England, Scotland and Wales, and when these lands 
were being bled white it was proposed to apply conscription to Ire- 
land. The Bishops of the Roman Catholic Church met and de- 
nounced the proposal, Archbishop Walsh calling it an oppressive and 
inhuman outrage. The proposal came to nothing. 

It may not be generally known that in Ireland the cost of Pri- 
mary Education is altogether paid by the government, while, for the 
most part, control is in the hands of the clergy. On the part of 
Protestants, especially in Ulster, there is a strong desire to have the 
control of primary education placed in the hands of duly elected 
public bodies, such authorities having power to strike a local educa- 
tion rate. Reform of this kind is bitterly opposed by the Roman 
Catholic Hierarchy, who resent any interference with their control 
of education. Owing to the extraordinary growth during recent 
years of the city of Belfast, and to the fact that during the war 
building operations had entirely ceased, it was found that the school 
accommodation was inadequate. On account of this, several thou- 
sands of children were left unfurnished with educational facilities. 
The city council formulated a scheme which was embodied in a Bill 
introduced into the House of Commons by a Belfast Unionist Labor 
Member, supported by all the Unionist Members from Ulster. The 
local Roman Catholic Bishop, through his Parliamentary friends, 
opposed the bill so strenuously that, being a private measure, it could 
not pass. Thus even the great predominently Protestant city of 
Belfast is frustrated in its educational ideals by the representatives 
of Rome. 

In face of the above facts, it will be evident that the problem of 
Ireland is one of deep and wide issues. It is not merely a question 
of Home Rule. From the statements of this pamphlet it will be evi- 
dent that Ireland possesses the essentials of wide and generous lib- 
erty. She is not a Poland striving for freedom. It will also be noted 
how she dealt with the Home Rule scheme presented to her, and how 
it fared with a convention of Irishmen assembled to prepare a scheme 
of government for their land. 

But Home Rule is not the zntal question. It is a question of 
separation, and this will never be conceded. 

Sinn Fein in pressing its propaganda upon America, seeks to 
appeal to the sympathy of a freedom-loving people. To this freedom- 
loving people we present our case. 

In calling for America's aid for its cause, Sinn Fein reminds the 
people of the United States of the part Irishmen played in the War 
of Independence. Irishmen played a great part in achieving the vie- 



tory of America's cause, but they were not the forefathers of Sinn 
Fein Ireland. Up to the forties of last century there was little more 
than a trickle of Roman Catholic emigration from Ireland to 
America. The Irishmen who stood with Washington were, far by 
far the greater part, Ulster men and their descendants, Protestants 
of Ireland, and they formed 38 per cent of his victorious forces. 

We place our case with confidence before the jury of American 
people. We ask that they do not allow themselves to be deflected 
irom the path of impartial consideration of the subject. Believing 
.as we do that the welfare of the future largely lies in their keeping, 
we desire the fullest and most intimate understanding between the 
peoples of America and Great Britain. 

In this spirit we submit to the people of the great American 
Republic a few facts relating to the United Kingdom of Great 
Britain and Ireland. 

The Delegates from the Protestant Churches of Ireland opened 
their campaign, for the spread of truth about Ireland, in Philadelphia 
on January 3, 1920. They were greeted by thousands of citizens at 
Broad Street Station, where the police were compelled, on account 
of the crowd, to open a lane through the cheering multitudes in order 
that the Delegates might go to their headquarters in the Bellevue- 
Stratford Hotel. On January 4tli they preached in fourteen of the 
leading Churches to audiences that taxed the buildings to their ut- 
most capacity. They addressed the Ministers of the city, spoke in 
Camden and Norristown, and were special guests at the Union 
League during the week. 

On Thursday evening, January 8th, Philadelphia witnessed the 
largest mass meeting ever held in the city, when over twenty thou- 
sand people attempted to gain admittance to the Metropolitan Opera 
House to hear the Ulster Delegates. It was necessary to hold over- 
'flow meetings in Lulu Temple Auditorium and also in the Drill 
'Room, and then thousands were turned away from all three halls. 

The following resolutions were adopted at these meetings : 



RESOLUTIONS |,ii,i 111,1111 n 

illllllllililllllllili mil lllllilii <''\\U, ,,ii„ ,„„„ ^ 

R '.-.SOLVED, By the Philadelphia Protestant ^ ^^^ 772 713 5 f 
ing assembled, representing more than one hundred thousand mem- 
bers of Protestant Churches and Protestant Patriotic Fraternities in 
the City of Philadelphia, having heard the Official Delegation from 
the Protestant Churches of Ireland present the Ulster side of the- 
Irish Question, we sincerely sympathize with Ulster in the fight to- 
retain their identity with the British Empire, and we trust that no- 
act of the British govermnent will be passed that will take away from- 
Ulster their blood-bought liberties. We declare that the problem is 
not one for the United States of America to interfere in, and we 
demand that no recognition be given any so-called "Irish Republic," a 
myth which exists only in the minds of a few fanatics, who desire' 
American dollars to aid in a rebellion against a friendly power, and 
one of our Allies in the great World War ; and we pledge ourselves 
to do all in our power to drive from political life any man or set of 
men who attempt to interfere in this matter by injecting it into 
American politics ; and be it further \ 

Resolved, That copies of this resolution be sent to each Member 
of Congress, the newspapers of the United vStates, of Great Britain,^ 
to Hon. Lloyd George and Sir Edward Carson, and be given the 
widest publicity possible. 

Attest : Samuel A. Wilson, 

President. 

Fredman T. Roberts, 

Secretary. 
Januai-y 5, 1920. 



t^°Piease make two copies of this resolution and mail one 
to your Senator and one to your Representative in Con- 
gress at Washington, D. C. 



THE Philadelphia Protestant Federation is now an incorporated organization, 
having been granted a Charter in October, 1919. It is composed of 
Delegates from the various Patriotic Fraternities and Churches of Philadelphia. 
Each organization pays three dollars per year, which entitles them to two Dele- 
gates and two Alternates in the Federation. 



We Invite Churches and Organizations to Join Us. 



irfiMlHlb 




005 772 713 5 § 



^Jc.'^'^'l'^i 



>5 



Hollinger Corp. 
pH8.5 



